2006-07-08
The bad news is the superhawk is now deceased. The good news is Lori and I aren't.
We were struck by a passenger car Saturday afternoon in front of the Mapco gas station across from Pizza Perfect in Hillsboro Village. We were in the far right hand lane (like turning right onto Blakemore) and there was a row of stopped cars to our left. Someone made a hole in that line of cars for the said passenger car and as it came through into our lane it t-boned the left side of the bike. I'm fairly sure Lori ejected at this point, and as the rear end came back down, I high-sided with the bike and our right sides slammed down onto the ground.
After it was over, Lori and I checked verbally with one another to gauge the severity of our injuries. This being Vanderbilt hospital central, there were a few guys in scrubs checking us out before I was even on my feet. Also, there was a VUPD police car that had been not that far behind us on Hillsboro, so they were also on scene extremely quickly.
My left foot was crushed between the bike and the car bumper, and that's the first pain I became aware of. Amazingly, after only a few minutes the pain subsided, and I was able to get on my feet. If feels fine today, with just a bruise near my achilles and on the top of my foot. I can almost bring myself to tears of gratitude looking at my boots (and all my gear) thinking how much worse things would have been without them. Wear your gear.
As far as lasting injuries go: I'm fairly sure I've got a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder. I'll be heading to the doctor Monday. Lori's left ribs are bruised and her left foot is swollen and she hasn't been very mobile since then. No broken bones, no missing limbs -- we were extremely lucky.
After the accident, I made a phone call to Blake, to see if he could give us a ride back to get my truck. Amazingly, he was only a block away (the building in the top-right corner on that google map). He came to the scene while we were wrapping up and gave us a lift, and helped me load the bike once we had the truck. Thanks for being there Blake, it's much appreciated.
Ride safe, and always ride with your gear.
-Chris
I snapped a few photos on my camera phone...
We were heading this way, in the right hand lane. Cars were backed up in the left lane past where this photo was taken.
Someone made a hole for the car that hit us to make a left into this gas station. She came right across the passing lane, right into ours before we saw one another.
That's pretty much the impact point -- in the closest lane. There was absolutely nothing I could have done. I only had time for it to register in my brain that we were going to crash.
This is the vehicle we became friendly with. You can't see it very well from the photo, but there was plenty of yellow plastic transfer on the car's bumper.
One drawback -- motorcycles don't do much damage. I would have hoped we did more destruction. They at least deserved it.
Notice the missing footpeg and bent shift lever.
Bent shift lever and the footpeg snapped off from the impact. Obviously, my foot was somewhere in the vicinity.
I'm not sure what caused this -- the fairing was pushed in and cracked either by the car bumper or my leg. There's also a nice scrape and the choke pull was bent almost pointing upwards before I bent it back after the accident.
The shin guard is bent towards the chain, and there's that big black mark on the subframe. I'm still unclear if that was from my boot getting crushed or if the bumper caused that directly.
Shin guard bent in...
A dent in the exhaust from the footpeg being bent backwards before breaking off.
You can see here how the left side exhaust was pushed towards the center, bending the left corner of the license plate. The right exhaust has been pushed in by at least an inch or two.
The above photos make it look like the swingarm or the subframe (the frame that the seat and exhaust hang from) is bent. I don't believe either are actually bent, it's more that the right exhaust has been pushed in pretty severely.
Passenger peg.
Rash on the cowl.
Right side passenger peg snapped off, completing the set of my custom removable (once) footpegs. Dent on the exhaust.
Here's a nice shot of the dent in the tank caused by the handlebars tweaking into the tank. I must have ejected before that happened, otherwise I think I'd have damage to my hand.
I had installed these chrome bar-ends just a few weeks ago. They were really cheap and probably wouldn't have made a dent in the tank if I still had the stock ones on. Blake came back with me to help load up the bike. If you look closely, you can spot some of his blood from a cut he received while giving the bike an inspection. For future reference: that chrome plating is razor sharp.
Completely mashed right hand turn signal.
Tweaked radiator.
Pretty weird how this happened. The bike must have rolled a little onto it's side for rash to have happened this far up on the bike.
The end.